Gold mobilisation task force sent out

The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has dispatched the Gold Mobilisation National Taskforce to the country’s eight mining provinces in a bid to shore up deliveries to state buyer, Fidelity Printers and Refineries (FPR).

The taskforce was sent out on Sunday at a function that was presided over by Mines Minister Winston Chitando and its brief is to make sure that the 2019 Government set target of 40 tonnes gold deliveries to FPR is met.

The national taskforce is a collaborative effort that involves the country’s security apparatus and the Ministry of Mines and its primary mandate is to make sure that all gold produced in the country is delivered to FPR.

In an interview with The Herald Business Minister Chitando said over and above the usual mandate, the taskforce will also solicit for stakeholder input on how to rump up gold production as well solicit for strategies that dissuade leakages.

“We had teams which were being dispatched to all the provinces (on Sunday) to undertake gold mobilisation activities and it is the first such programme for this calendar year,” said Minister Chitando.

“The whole idea is that last year we had a record 33, 2 tonnes production of gold and this year we have targeted 40 tonnes and the gold mobilisation taskforce will be visiting various producers, also various service providers in terms of hammer mills and other service providers to ensure that there is compliance with the law. . .

“But what is also important is that towards the end of the visit by the taskforce, they will be provincial workshops whose whole idea is for the stakeholders to get an appreciation of the challenges which are on the ground and also to discuss solutions.

“These workshops will culminate into a workshop to be held towards the end of May where, we would seek stakeholder participation and take a step back to say, yes we have set ourselves a 100 tonne target for 2023, but what is required, not only to achieve that target but to surpass it.

“This comes from the fact that Government believes, very strongly, that if we put our heads together we can surpass the 100 tonnes target,” he said.

Government is targeting to ramp up annual gold deliveries to FPR to at least 100 tonnes by 2023, up from a record 33, 2 tonnes delivered last year.

The envisaged delivery jump is one of the key strategies aimed at growing the mining sector’s export earnings to US$12 billion annually up from US$3, 2 billion in 2018.

These earnings, are part of a broader plan to grow the economy to upper middle income earning status by 2030._The Herald